


Together

by sasha_b



Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-22
Updated: 2011-06-22
Packaged: 2017-10-20 15:45:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/214370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sasha_b/pseuds/sasha_b
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Erik and Charles, one moment, happy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Together

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Deutsch available: [Gemeinsam](https://archiveofourown.org/works/921644) by [eurydike](https://archiveofourown.org/users/eurydike/pseuds/eurydike)



> Based on a piece of art drawn by crow821 on Live Journal.

He hasn’t bothered with light; the room is swathed in quiet and Erik sits, his back against the wall, the long couch he’s occupying soft and cushioned and so very appropriate for the opulent house he’s in. He’s finished his port, and shifts one leg over the other, the soft _suruss_ of the fabric scratchy and annoying to his ears.

Tomorrow is a day like any other, save it’s another day where he has a familiar place to sleep and food readily available and books to read and people to talk to that know him in a way that doesn’t have him wanting to push them away, and he clenches his teeth, angry at the thought he’s already so comfortable with that. It’s not part of his plan nor is it part of what he’s stood for his entire life. He is vengeance and he can’t do or be anything else. His role, his purpose –

“I can feel your brain from twenty yards outside, my friend.”

Charles shuts the door behind him with a foot; so casual, smiling as he snaps a light on. “What are you doing here in the dark?”

He crosses to where Erik is sat on the couch, a book held loosely in his left hand, his comfortably creased trousers and fine white button down looking rumpled and distinguished. He flops next to Erik and leans his head over, conspiratorially and with a joking expression that makes Erik’s hands clutch into fists. He flicks his fingers, and the light goes off.

“Are we practicing? Or are we merely brooding?” Charles heaves himself up and turns the light back on. He stands at Erik’s feet and cocks an eyebrow, the fine shape of it distracting Erik from his melancholia and _the fact that Charles can actually almost reach his hair line with that thing…_

“You should know,” Erik says, his rich voice lower with unspoken exhaustion and worry. He’s fighting with himself, fighting the trend he’s built inside, the accent he’s smoothed over popping up as his confusion mounts. What is it, why is it, why can he not control his emotions when this other man is around?

“Two halves of the whole, Erik,” Charles says after a moment, his teasing tone gone, the seriousness in his voice forcing Erik’s eyes to his. A dangerous thing to do. Erik shakes his head, throwing a hand into the air, a flitting bat in the dark corner of the room, looking for a place to roost. Charles sits next to him again, and the hand finds its way to Charles’ shoulder.

 _There is no need for confusion. We know what we need to do, and how to do it. You and I together can be a force that no one can reckon with. Not even the pasts we’ve left behind, my fri- Erik._

The sound of Charles saying his name, _thinking_ it, is a warm bath, a hidden roll of bread that he’s saved for four days, a day with no rain, a moment in a strange hotel room where he forgets what he’s chasing and remembers only that he’s got a bed to sleep in and wine in his belly.

It’s Charles, and Erik allows the small smile to creep over his face. It’s not the large grin he’s been prone to lately – Charles can bring that out too, frighteningly – but it’s there, just the same. Charles sighs, but it’s not a sound of sorrow.

He turns his back to Erik, and flops down on Erik’s trouser clad legs, his thick hair spreading in a dark mass that makes Erik’s hands itch to touch. The itch is normally only there when the power is called; this time, it’s there because of this man and their –

 _Bond? Chemistry?_ Charles laughs as he holds his book, his legs stretching out comfortably, his eyes looking upward at Erik bright and sparkling and so full of whatever _joie de vivre_ he possesses Erik can’t help but allow the started smile to crawl from his mouth to his eyes as well. The long fingers of Erik’s left hand catch in Charles’ hair at last _I can allow myself this_ and he laughs as well, grudgingly at first, then a real, really real laugh. It’s soft and short but it’s there.

“Always science with you,” Erik murmurs. Charles merely shrugs and shuts his eyes as he settles in Erik’s lap, which should feel strange, but it feels oh so not that.

Erik raises his free hand and clicks the light off again with a subtle movement of fingers.


End file.
